Identity confirmation using private keys

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for identify confirmation and transaction security are described. The system transmits to a client computing system an encrypted challenge generated using a public key of an asymmetric key pair and a first partially decrypted challenge generated by applying a first private key fragment of a private key of the asymmetric key pair to the encrypted challenge. The system receives a decrypted challenge generated by applying a second private key fragment of the private key to the encrypted challenge to generate a second partially decrypted challenge, applying a third private key fragment of the private key to the encrypted challenge to generate a third partially decrypted challenge, and combining the first partially decrypted challenge, the second partially decrypted challenge and the third partially decrypted challenge to generate the decrypted challenge. The system uses the decrypted challenge for verification.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialthat is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to data processing and morespecifically relates to identity verification.

BACKGROUND

The subject matter discussed in the background section should not beassumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in thebackground section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the backgroundsection or associated with the subject matter of the background sectionshould not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the priorart. The subject matter in the background section merely representsdifferent approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.

Identification of humans for online services requires providing useridentification and some form of password or well-known personalinformation such as mother's maiden name or SSN, etc. This could leadidentity theft while increasing risk for business. It is also costly tosecure this information on behalf of the clients.

BRIEF SUMMARY

For some embodiments, methods for identity verification comprisestransmitting, by a server computing system to a client computing system,an encrypted challenge generated using a public key of an asymmetric keypair; transmitting, by the server computing system to the clientcomputing system, a first partially decrypted challenge generated byapplying a first private key fragment of a private key of the asymmetrickey pair to the encrypted challenge; receiving, by the server computingsystem from the client computing system, a decrypted challenge, thedecrypted challenge generated by: (i) applying a second private keyfragment of the private key to the encrypted challenge to generate asecond partially decrypted challenge, the second private key fragmentstored in the client computing system; (ii) applying a third private keyfragment of the private key to the encrypted challenge to generate athird partially decrypted challenge, the third private key fragmentprovided by a user of the client computing system; and (iii) combiningthe first partially decrypted challenge, the second partially decryptedchallenge and the third partially decrypted challenge to generate thedecrypted challenge; and using, by the server computing system, thedecrypted challenge for identity verification. Other aspects andadvantages of the present invention can be seen on review of thedrawings, the detailed description and the claims, which follow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The included drawings are for illustrative purposes and serve only toprovide examples of possible structures and process steps for thedisclosed techniques. These drawings in no way limit any changes in formand detail that may be made to embodiments by one skilled in the artwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

FIG. 1 shows a diagram of an example computing system that may be usedwith some embodiments.

FIG. 2 shows a diagram of an example network environment that may beused with some embodiments.

FIG. 3A shows an example of a client identity module that may be used,in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3B shows an example of a server identity module that may be used,in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3C shows another example of a server identity module that may beused, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a private key fragmentation module, inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 5 shows an example communication diagram to securely exchangeinformation between two computing systems, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 6 shows an example communication diagram to initiate a verificationrequest using private key fragments, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 7A shows a flowchart of an example process for transmitting securedinformation using private key fragments, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 7B shows a flowchart of an example identity verification processthat may be performed by a client computing system, in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 7C shows a flowchart of an example identity verification processthat may be performed by a server computing system, in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 8A shows a system diagram illustrating architectural components ofan applicable environment, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 8B shows a system diagram further illustrating architecturalcomponents of an applicable environment, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 9 shows a system diagram illustrating the architecture of amulti-tenant database environment, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 10 shows a system diagram further illustrating the architecture ofa multi-tenant database environment, in accordance with someembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods for using private key fragments to enableidentification or identity verification are disclosed. A pair of keysincludes a public key and a private key. The private key may befragmented into three private key fragments. The public key may be usedto encrypt a challenge. Each of the three private key fragments may beused to partially decrypt the encrypted challenge. A decrypted challengein its entirety or a derived token using the challenge may be used foridentification of the user and type of transaction being performed.

The systems and methods will be described with reference to exampleembodiments. These examples are being provided solely to add context andaid in the understanding of the present disclosure. It will thus beapparent to one skilled in the art that the techniques described hereinmay be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In otherinstances, well known process steps have not been described in detail inorder to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present disclosure. Otherapplications are possible, such that the following examples should notbe taken as definitive or limiting either in scope or setting.

In the following detailed description, references are made to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part of the description and in whichare shown, by way of illustration, specific embodiments. Although theseembodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable one skilled inthe art to practice the disclosure, it is understood that these examplesare not limiting, such that other embodiments may be used and changesmay be made without departing from the spirit and scope of thedisclosure.

As used herein, the term “multi-tenant database system” refers to thosesystems in which various elements of hardware and software of thedatabase system may be shared by one or more customers. For example, agiven application server may simultaneously process requests for a greatnumber of customers, and a given database table may store rows for apotentially much greater number of customers.

The described subject matter may be implemented in the context of anycomputer-implemented system, such as a software-based system, a databasesystem, a multi-tenant environment, or the like. Moreover, the describedsubject matter may be implemented in connection with two or moreseparate and distinct computer-implemented systems that cooperate andcommunicate with one another. One or more embodiments may be implementedin numerous ways, including as a process, an apparatus, a system, adevice, a method, a computer readable medium such as a computer readablestorage medium containing computer readable instructions or computerprogram code, or as a computer program product comprising a computerusable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein.

The disclosed embodiments may include systems and methods foridentification. The method may include transmitting, by a servercomputing system to a client computing system, an encrypted challengegenerated using a public key of an asymmetric key pair; transmitting, bythe server computing system to the client computing system, a firstpartially decrypted challenge generated by applying a first private keyfragment of a private key of the asymmetric key pair to the encryptedchallenge; receiving, by the server computing system from the clientcomputing system, a decrypted challenge, the decrypted challengegenerated by: (i) applying a second private key fragment of the privatekey to the encrypted challenge to generate a second partially decryptedchallenge, the second private key fragment stored in the clientcomputing system; (ii) applying a third private key fragment of theprivate key to the encrypted challenge to generate a third partiallydecrypted challenge, the third private key fragment provided by a userof the client computing system; and (iii) combining the first partiallydecrypted challenge, the second partially decrypted challenge and thethird partially decrypted challenge to generate the decrypted challenge;and using, by the server computing system, the decrypted challenge foridentity verification.

The disclosed embodiments may include an apparatus for performingidentification and include a processor, and one or more stored sequencesof instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause theprocessor to transmit an encrypted challenge generated using a publickey of an asymmetric key pair; transmit a first partially decryptedchallenge generated by applying a first private key fragment of aprivate key of the asymmetric key pair to the encrypted challenge;receiving a decrypted challenge, the decrypted challenge generated by:(i) applying a second private key fragment of the private key to theencrypted challenge to generate a second partially decrypted challenge,the second private key fragment stored in a client computing system;(ii) applying a third private key fragment of the private key to theencrypted challenge to generate a third partially decrypted challenge,the third private key fragment provided by a user of the clientcomputing system; and (iii) combining the first partially decryptedchallenge, the second partially decrypted challenge and the thirdpartially decrypted challenge to generate the decrypted challenge; andusing the decrypted challenge for identity verification.

The disclosed embodiments may include a computer program productcomprising computer-readable program code to be executed by one or moreprocessors when retrieved from a non-transitory computer-readablemedium, the program code including instructions to transmit an encryptedchallenge generated using a public key of an asymmetric key pair;transmit a first partially decrypted challenge generated by applying afirst private key fragment of a private key of the asymmetric key pairto the encrypted challenge; receiving a decrypted challenge, thedecrypted challenge generated by: (i) applying a second private keyfragment of the private key to the encrypted challenge to generate asecond partially decrypted challenge, the second private key fragmentstored in a client computing system; (ii) applying a third private keyfragment of the private key to the encrypted challenge to generate athird partially decrypted challenge, the third private key fragmentprovided by a user of the client computing system; and (iii) combiningthe first partially decrypted challenge, the second partially decryptedchallenge and the third partially decrypted challenge to generate thedecrypted challenge; and using the decrypted challenge for identityverification.

While one or more implementations and techniques are described withreference to an embodiment in which private key fragments may be usedfor identification is implemented in a system having an applicationserver providing a front end for an on-demand database service capableof supporting multiple tenants, the one or more implementations andtechniques are not limited to multi-tenant databases nor deployment onapplication servers. Embodiments may be practiced using other databasearchitectures, i.e., ORACLE®, DB2® by IBM and the like without departingfrom the scope of the embodiments claimed.

Any of the above embodiments may be used alone or together with oneanother in any combination. The one or more implementations encompassedwithin this specification may also include embodiments that are onlypartially mentioned or alluded to or are not mentioned or alluded to atall in this brief summary or in the abstract. Although variousembodiments may have been motivated by various deficiencies with theprior art, which may be discussed or alluded to in one or more places inthe specification, the embodiments do not necessarily address any ofthese deficiencies. In other words, different embodiments may addressdifferent deficiencies that may be discussed in the specification. Someembodiments may only partially address some deficiencies or just onedeficiency that may be discussed in the specification, and someembodiments may not address any of these deficiencies.

The described subject matter may be implemented in the context of anycomputer-implemented system, such as a software-based system, a databasesystem, a multi-tenant environment, or the like. Moreover, the describedsubject matter may be implemented in connection with two or moreseparate and distinct computer-implemented systems that cooperate andcommunicate with one another. One or more implementations may beimplemented in numerous ways, including as a process, an apparatus, asystem, a device, a method, a computer readable medium such as acomputer readable storage medium containing computer readableinstructions or computer program code, or as a computer program productcomprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable programcode embodied therein.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an example computing system that may be used withsome embodiments of the present invention. The computing system 102 maybe used by a user to for identity verification based on private keyfragments. For some embodiments, the server computing system may beassociated with a multi-tenant database environment. For example, themulti-tenant database environment may be associated with the servicesprovided by Salesforce.com®.

The computing system 102 is only one example of a suitable computingsystem, such as a mobile computing system, and is not intended tosuggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of thedesign. Neither should the computing system 102 be interpreted as havingany dependency or requirement relating to any one or combination ofcomponents illustrated. The design is operational with numerous othergeneral purpose or special purpose computing systems. Examples ofwell-known computing systems, environments, and/or configurations thatmay be suitable for use with the design include, but are not limited to,personal computers, server computers, hand-held or laptop devices,multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes,programmable consumer electronics, mini-computers, mainframe computers,distributed computing environments that include any of the above systemsor devices, and the like. For example, the computing system 102 may beimplemented as a mobile computing system such as one that is configuredto run with an operating system (e.g., iOS) developed by Apple Inc. ofCupertino, Calif. or an operating system (e.g., Android) that isdeveloped by Google Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.

Some embodiments of the present invention may be described in thegeneral context of computing system executable instructions, such asprogram modules, being executed by a computer. Generally, programmodules include routines, programs, objects, components, datastructures, etc. that performs particular tasks or implement particularabstract data types. Those skilled in the art can implement thedescription and/or figures herein as computer-executable instructions,which can be embodied on any form of computing machine program productdiscussed below.

Some embodiments of the present invention may also be practiced indistributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remoteprocessing devices that are linked through a communications network. Ina distributed computing environment, program modules may be located inboth local and remote computer storage media including memory storagedevices.

Referring to FIG. 1, the computing system 102 may include, but are notlimited to, a processing unit 120 having one or more processing cores, asystem memory 130, and a system bus 121 that couples various systemcomponents including the system memory 130 to the processing unit 120.The system bus 121 may be any of several types of bus structuresincluding a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and alocal bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. By way ofexample, and not limitation, such architectures include IndustryStandard Architecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus,Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA)locale bus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus also knownas Mezzanine bus.

The computing system 102 typically includes a variety of computerprogram product. Computer program product can be any available mediathat can be accessed by computing system 102 and includes both volatileand nonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media. By way ofexample, and not limitation, computer program product may storeinformation such as computer readable instructions, data structures,program modules or other data. Computer storage media include, but arenot limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memorytechnology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical diskstorage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used tostore the desired information and which can be accessed by computingsystem 102. Communication media typically embodies computer readableinstructions, data structures, or program modules.

The system memory 130 may include computer storage media in the form ofvolatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) 131and random access memory (RAM) 132. A basic input/output system (BIOS)133, containing the basic routines that help to transfer informationbetween elements within computing system 102, such as during start-up,is typically stored in ROM 131. RAM 132 typically contains data and/orprogram modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presentlybeing operated on by processing unit 120. By way of example, and notlimitation, FIG. 1 also illustrates operating system 134, applicationprograms 135, other program modules 136, and program data 137.

The computing system 102 may also include other removable/non-removablevolatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. By way of example only,FIG. 1 also illustrates a hard disk drive 141 that reads from or writesto non-removable, nonvolatile magnetic media, a magnetic disk drive 151that reads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile magnetic disk 152,and an optical disk drive 155 that reads from or writes to a removable,nonvolatile optical disk 156 such as, for example, a CD ROM or otheroptical media. Other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatilecomputer storage media that can be used in the exemplary operatingenvironment include, but are not limited to, USB drives and devices,magnetic tape cassettes, flash memory cards, digital versatile disks,digital video tape, solid state RAM, solid state ROM, and the like. Thehard disk drive 141 is typically connected to the system bus 121 througha non-removable memory interface such as interface 140, and magneticdisk drive 151 and optical disk drive 155 are typically connected to thesystem bus 121 by a removable memory interface, such as interface 150.

The drives and their associated computer storage media discussed aboveand illustrated in FIG. 1, provide storage of computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules and other data for thecomputing system 102. In FIG. 1, for example, hard disk drive 141 isillustrated as storing operating system 144, application programs 145,other program modules 146, and program data 147. Note that thesecomponents can either be the same as or different from operating system134, application programs 135, other program modules 136, and programdata 137. The operating system 144, the application programs 145, theother program modules 146, and the program data 147 are given differentnumeric identification here to illustrate that, at a minimum, they aredifferent copies.

A user may enter commands and information into the computing system 102through input devices such as a keyboard 162, a microphone 163, and apointing device 161, such as a mouse, trackball or touch pad or touchscreen. Other input devices (not shown) may include a joystick, gamepad, scanner, or the like. These and other input devices are oftenconnected to the processing unit 120 through a user input interface 160that is coupled with the system bus 121, but may be connected by otherinterface and bus structures, such as a parallel port, game port or auniversal serial bus (USB). A monitor 191 or other type of displaydevice is also connected to the system bus 121 via an interface, such asa video interface 190. In addition to the monitor, computers may alsoinclude other peripheral output devices such as speakers 197 and printer196, which may be connected through an output peripheral interface 190.

The computing system 102 may operate in a networked environment usinglogical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remotecomputer 180. The remote computer 180 may be a personal computer, ahand-held device, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device orother common network node, and typically includes many or all of theelements described above relative to the computing system 102. Thelogical connections depicted in

FIG. 1 includes a local area network (LAN) 171 and a wide area network(WAN) 173, but may also include other networks. Such networkingenvironments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computernetworks, intranets and the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computing system 102 maybe connected to the LAN 171 through a network interface or adapter 170.When used in a WAN networking environment, the computing system 102typically includes a modem 172 or other means for establishingcommunications over the WAN 173, such as the Internet. The modem 172,which may be internal or external, may be connected to the system bus121 via the user-input interface 160, or other appropriate mechanism. Ina networked environment, program modules depicted relative to thecomputing system 102, or portions thereof, may be stored in a remotememory storage device. By way of example, and not limitation, FIG. 1illustrates remote application programs 185 as residing on remotecomputer 180. It will be appreciated that the network connections shownare exemplary and other means of establishing a communications linkbetween the computers may be used.

It should be noted that some embodiments of the present invention may becarried out on a computing system such as that described with respect toFIG. 1. However, some embodiments of the present invention may becarried out on a server, a computer devoted to message handling,handheld devices, or on a distributed system in which different portionsof the present design may be carried out on different parts of thedistributed computing system.

Another device that may be coupled with the system bus 121 is a powersupply such as a battery or a Direct Current (DC) power supply) andAlternating Current (AC) adapter circuit. The DC power supply may be abattery, a fuel cell, or similar DC power source needs to be rechargedon a periodic basis. The communication module (or modem) 172 may employa Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) to establish a wirelesscommunication channel. The communication module 172 may implement awireless networking standard such as Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, IEEE std. 802.11-1999,published by IEEE in 1999.

Examples of mobile computing systems may be a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a Netbook, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, orother similar device with on board processing power and wirelesscommunications ability that is powered by a Direct Current (DC) powersource that supplies DC voltage to the mobile computing system and thatis solely within the mobile computing system and needs to be rechargedon a periodic basis, such as a fuel cell or a battery.

FIG. 2 shows a diagram of an example network environment that may beused with some embodiments of the present invention. Network environment200 includes computing systems 290 and 291. One or more of the computingsystems 290 and 291 may be a mobile computing system. The computingsystems 290 and 291 may be connected to the network 250 via a cellularconnection or via a Wi-Fi router (not shown). The network 250 may be theInternet. The computing systems 290 and 291 may be coupled with servercomputing system 255 via the network 250.

Each of the computing systems 290 and 291 may include a respectiveapplication module 208 and 214. A user may use the computing system 290and the application module 208 to connect to and communicate with theserver computing system 255 and log into application 257 (e.g., aSalesforce.com® application). For some embodiments, a user may use thecomputing system 290 or 291 for identification verification by theserver computing system 255.

FIG. 3A shows an example diagram of a client identity module that may beused, in accordance with some embodiments. Diagram 300 includes clientidentity module 305 configured to generate a decrypted challenge. Theclient identity module 305 may be associated with a user computingsystem such as, for example, the computing system 290 (also referred toas a client computing system). The client identity module 305 mayinclude a key generation module 310 configured to generate a private key315 and a public key 320. The client identity module 305 may include aprivate key fragmentation module 325 configured to fragment the privatekey 315 into three private key fragments. In this example, three privatekey fragments 330, 335 and 340 may be generated. One of the private keyfragments, such as the private key fragment 330, and the public key 320may be transmitted to the server computing system 255.

Referring to the configuration shown in FIG. 3A, the client identitymodule 305 may include a decryption module 360 configured to receiveencrypted challenge 345. For example, the encrypted challenge 345 may bereceived from the server computing system 255. The decryption module 360may be configured to partially decrypt the encrypted challenge 345 usingthe remaining two private key fragments 335 and 340 to generate twopartially decrypted challenges.

The client identity module 305 may include a partially decryptedchallenges combine module 365 configured to combine the first partiallydecrypted challenge 350 received from the server computing system 255and the two partially decrypted challenges generated by the decryptionmodule 360 to generate the decrypted challenge 370. The decryptedchallenge 370 may then be transmitted to the server computing system 255for identity verification.

FIG. 3B shows an example of a server identity module that may be used,in accordance with some embodiments. Diagram 380 includes serveridentity module 382 configured to perform identity or transactionverification. The server identity module 382 may be associated with aserver computing system such as, for example, the server computingsystem 255. The server identity module 382 may include a challengegeneration module 384 configured to generate a challenge 385. Thechallenge generation module 384 may generate the challenge 385 as arandom number.

The server identity module 382 may include an encryption module 386configured to encrypt the challenge 385 using the public key 320received from the client computing system 290. This may generate theencrypted challenge 345. The encrypted challenge 345 may be transmittedto a client computing system. The server identity module 382 may includea decryption module 390 configured to apply the first private keyfragment 330 to the encrypted challenge 345 to generate a firstpartially decrypted challenge 350. The first partially decryptedchallenge 350 may be transmitted to a client computing system.

The server identity module 382 may include a challenge verificationmodule 394 to compare the challenge 385 with the decrypted challenge 370received from the client computing system. Based on verifying whetherthe challenge 385 matches with the decrypted challenge 370, a decisionis generated by the identity decision module 396. A notice may begenerated and transmitted to the client computing system to indicatewhether the transaction is confirmed or denied.

FIG. 3C shows an alternative example of a server identity module thatmay be used, in accordance with some embodiments. Diagram 381 includesserver identity module 383 configured to perform identity or transactionverification. The server identity module 383 may be associated with aserver computing system such as, for example, the server computingsystem 255. The server identity module 383 may be partially similar tothe server identity module 382 of FIG. 3B, except that the generation ofthe private key 315 and the public key 320 may be performed by theserver computing system 255 (e.g., by a module similar to the keygeneration module 310). For example, having the server computing system255 performing the key generation may be preferable when the keygeneration operation cannot be trusted on a client computing system.When the private key 315 and the public key 320 are generated by theserver computing system 255, the private key 315 may be fragmented intothree fragments by the server computing system (e.g., by a modulesimilar to the private key fragmentation module 325). The public key 320and the first key fragment 330 may be stored at a storage deviceassociated with the server computing system 255. The second and thirdprivate key fragments 388 and 389 may be transmitted to the clientcomputing system. For example, the generating of the public and privatekeys and the transmission of the second and third private key fragments388 and 389 from the server computing system 255 to the client computingsystem 290 may be performed at registration of the client computingsystem 290 with the server computing system 255. The server computingsystem 255 may also transmit the encrypted challenge 345 to the clientcomputing system. The client computing system may then use the encryptedchallenge 345 and the two private key fragments 388 and 389 to generatea second and a third partially decrypted challenges 391 and 392. Thepartially decrypted challenges 391 and 392 may then be transmitted bythe client computing system to the server computing system 255. Theserver computing system 255 may then use the first partially decryptedchallenge 350, the second partially decrypted challenge 391 and thethird partially decrypted challenge to generate a decrypted challengeand compare the decrypted challenge with the challenge 385 that theserver computing system 255 generates earlier. If there is a match, thenthe identity verification succeeds. If it doesn't match, then theidentity verification fails.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a private key fragmentation module, inaccordance with some embodiments. The private key fragmentation module325 may be configured to fragment a private key into three private keyfragments. For some embodiments, different private keys associated witha computing system may be fragmented differently. In this example, theremay be three different private keys 405, 410 and 415 having the samelength. The private key 405 may be fragmented into three private keyfragments 406, 407 and 408 with its second private key fragment 407being largest in term of a percentage of the private key 405. Theprivate key 410 may be fragmented into three private key fragments 411,412 and 413 with its first private key fragment 411 being largest interm of a percentage of the private key 410. The private key 415 may befragmented into three private key fragments 416, 417 and 418 with itsthird private key fragment 418 being largest in terms of a percentage ofthe private key 415. Each of the private keys 405, 410 and 415 may beused to exchange encrypted information with a different computingsystem. For example, the computing system 290 may associate the privatekey 405 with the server computing system 255 and the private key 410with the computing system 291. It may be noted that the term first,second or third private key fragments is used merely to identify thedifferent fragments and is not meant to explicitly specify them in anyparticular order.

For some embodiments, once a private key is fragmented by the privatekey fragmentation module 325 into multiple private key fragments, it maynot be possible to recreate the private key using the multiple privatekey fragments because each private key fragment is stored in a differentlocation. For example, a first private key fragment may be transmittedfrom the computing system 290 to the server computing system 255 alongwith the associated public key. After the server computing system 255receives the first private key fragment, the private key and the firstprivate key fragment may no longer exist in the computing system 290. Assuch, it may be impossible for the hackers to recreate the private key.For some embodiments, when using the implementation shown in FIG. 3C,the client computing system does not have the private key, and theserver computing system 255 does not need to receive the first privatekey fragment from the client computing system.

For some embodiments, when the private key fragmentation module 325 isconfigured to fragment a private key into three private key fragments, afirst private key fragment may be determined by subtracting a randomlyselected number from the private key. The remainder may be randomlyfragmented to form second and third private key fragments. For someembodiments, when the private key fragmentation module 325 is configuredto fragment a private key into two private key fragments, the firstprivate key fragment and the second private key fragment may be formedby randomly fragmenting the private key into two private key fragments.The first private key fragment may be determined by subtracting a randomportion from the private key, and the remainder becomes the secondprivate key fragment. A similar approach may be used when there arethree private key fragments. Following is an example formula that may beused to fragment a private key into two private key fragments:BigInteger FragmentOne=(RAN<1.0)×Private_Exponent;BigInteger FragmentTwo=Private_Exponent.subtract(FragmentOne).

For some embodiments, a partially decrypted challenge may be generatedusing the following formula:Partially Decrypted Challenge=Encrypted Challenge,modPow(Private KeyFragment,Modulus),where “Modulus” is the modulus of the public key and private key pair(shown in FIG. 3). In the current example, there are three partiallydecrypted data 425, 426 and 427 based on the respective first, secondand third private key fragment.

For some embodiments, a decrypted challenge may be generated using thefollowing formula:Decrypted Challenge=(P1×P2×P3)mod Modulus,where P1 is the first partially decrypted challenge based on the firstprivate key fragment, P2 is the second partially decrypted challengebased on the second private key fragment, and P3 is the third partiallydecrypted challenge based on the third private key fragment.

FIG. 5 shows an example communication diagram to securely exchangeinformation between two computing systems, in accordance with someembodiments. In this example, the information is referred to as thechallenge 385 (shown in highlighted block), and it is to be transmittedfrom the server computing system 255 to the computing system 290. Thedirectional arrows between the two computing systems 255 and 290 areused to represent the direction or path of information transmission. Thecomputing system 290 may include a key generation module 310 configuredto generate an asymmetric encryption key pair which includes a privatekey and a public key. The public key may be transmitted to the servercomputing system 255 (shown as path 510) and stored by the servercomputing system 255 in an associated storage device as public key 320(shown in highlighted block). The computing system 290 may include aprivate key fragmentation module 325 configured to fragment the privatekey of the asymmetric key pair into three private key fragments. One ofthe private key fragments (referred to as a first private key fragment)may be transmitted to the server computing system 255 (shown as path512) and stored in an associated storage device as first private keyfragment 330 (shown in highlighted block). One of the remaining twoprivate key fragments may be stored by the computing system 290 in anassociated storage device as second private key fragment 335. A thirdprivate key fragment 340 (shown in dotted lines) may be remembered by auser of the computing system 290 and provided to the computing system290 by the user when required.

Although not shown, the server computing system 255 may include logic torecognize that the public key 320 and the first private key fragment 330are associated with the computing system 290. The server computingsystem 255 may include an encryption module 386 configured to encryptthe challenge 385 using the public key 320 to generate an encryptedchallenge. The encrypted challenge may then be transmitted to thecomputing system 290 (shown as path 514). The server computing system255 may include a decryption module 390 configured to use the firstprivate key fragment 330 to partially decrypt the encrypted challenge togenerate a first partially decrypted challenge. The first partiallydecrypted challenge may then be transmitted to the computing system 290(shown as path 516).

The computing system 290 may include a decryption module 360 configuredto partially decrypt the encrypted challenge received from the servercomputing system 255 using the second private key fragment 335 and thethird private key fragment 340. This generates a second partiallydecrypted challenge and a third partially decrypted challenge. Thecomputing system 290 also includes a partially decrypted challengecombining module 365 configured to combine the first, second and thirdpartially decrypted challenges to generate decrypted challenge 370. Adotted line connecting the challenge 385 and the decrypted challenge 370is used to show that the two challenges may be the same after thedecryption process performed by the computing system 290 is completed.

FIG. 6 shows an example communication diagram to initiate identityverification using private key fragments, in accordance with someembodiments. The diagram of FIG. 6 is similar to the diagram of FIG. 5with the addition of the identity verification request and the challengeverification operations. In this example, an identity verificationrequest may be initiated using the client computing system 290. Thedirectional arrows between the client computing system 290 and theserver computing system 255 are used to represent the direction or pathof information transmission. The computing system 290 may include a keygeneration module 310 configured to generate an asymmetric encryptionkey pair which includes a private key and a public key. The public keymay be transmitted to the server computing system 255 (shown as path610) and may be saved by the server computing system 255 in anassociated storage device, similar to FIG. 5.

The computing system 290 may include a private key fragmentation module325 configured to fragment the private key of the asymmetric key pairinto three private key fragments. One of the private key fragments(referred to as a first private key fragment) may be transmitted to theserver computing system 255 (shown as path 612) and stored in anassociated storage device as first private key fragment. One of theremaining two private key fragments may be stored by the computingsystem 290 in an associated storage device as second private keyfragment. The third private key fragment may be remembered by a user ofthe computing system 290 and may be provided by the user as necessary.Although not shown, the server computing system 255 may include logic torecognize that the public key and the first private key fragment areassociated with the computing system 290. The computing system 290 mayinclude an identity or transaction verification request module 605configured to generate an identity or transaction verification request.The identity or transaction verification request may then be transmittedto the server computing system 255 (shown as path 614). For example, theidentity or transaction verification request may indicate that it is arequest based on challenge verification.

The server computing system 255 may include a request processing module606, a challenge generating module 384, an encryption module 386, adecryption module 390, and a challenge verification module 394. Therequest processing module 606 may be configured to associate thepreviously received public key and the first private key fragment withthe identification or transaction verification request. The requestprocessing module 606 may be configured to cause the challengegenerating module 384 to generate a challenge. For some embodiments, thechallenge may be based on a random number generator. The encryptionmodule 386 may be configured to encrypt the challenge using the publickey to generate an encrypted challenge. The encrypted challenge may thenbe transmitted to the computing system 290 (shown as path 616). Thedecryption module 390 may be configured to partially decrypt theencrypted challenge using the first private key fragment to generate afirst partially decrypted challenge. The first partially decryptedchallenge may then be transmitted to the computing system 290 (shown aspath 618).

The computing system 290 may include a decryption module 360 configuredto partially decrypt the encrypted challenge received from the servercomputing system 255. In this example, the decryption module 360 maygenerate a second partially decrypted challenge using a second privatekey fragment (stored in the computing system 290) and a third partiallydecrypted challenge using a third private key fragment (provided by theuser of the computing system 290), similar to FIG. 5. The computingsystem 290 may include a partially decrypted challenge combining module365 configured to combine the first, second and third partiallydecrypted challenge to generate a decrypted challenge. The decryptedchallenge may then be transmitted to the server computing system 255(shown as path 620).

The challenge verification module 394 may be configured to perform acomparison of the decrypted challenge and the challenge generated by thechallenge generating module 384. If none of the private key fragmentshas been compromised, it may be expected that the decrypted challenge isthe same as the challenge. If they are the same, the request may beapproved; otherwise, the request may be denied. The approval or denialmay be transmitted to the computing system 290 (shown as path 622).

FIG. 7A shows a flowchart of an example process for transmitting securedinformation using private key fragments, in accordance with someembodiments. The process 700 may be performed by a client computingsystem configured to receive the secured information. A public key and afirst private key fragment may have previously been transmitted to acomputing system configured to transmit the secured information. Thesecured information in this example is referred to as a challenge.

The process 700 may start at block 705 where an encrypted challenge isreceived. A public key is used to generate the encrypted challenge. Atblock 710, a first partially decrypted challenge is received. The firstpartially decrypted challenge may be generated by decrypting theencrypted challenge using a first private key fragment.

At block 715, second partially decrypted challenge is generated. This isbased on using a second private key fragment stored in the computingsystem configured to receive the secured challenge. At block 720, athird partially decrypted challenge is generated. This is based on usinga third private key fragment provided by a user of the computing systemconfigured to receive the secure challenge. At block 725, the first,second and third partially decrypted challenges may be combined togenerate the decrypted challenge.

FIG. 7B shows a flowchart of an example identity verification processthat may be performed by a client computing system, in accordance withsome embodiments. The process 730 may be performed by a computing systemconfigured to enable a user to do identity verification with a servercomputing system. An asymmetric key pair may be used. A public key and afirst private key fragment may have previously been transmitted to theserver computing system.

The process 730 may start at block 735 where a request may betransmitted to the server computing system. At block 740, an encryptedchallenge may be received from the server computing system. Theencrypted challenge may be encrypted using the public key. At block 745,first partially decrypted challenge may be received. The first partiallydecrypted challenge may be generated by decrypting the encryptedchallenge using the first private key fragment.

At block 750, a second partially decrypted challenge may be generated.This is based on using a second private key fragment. At block 755,third partially decrypted challenge may be generated. This is based onusing a third private key fragment. At block 760, the first, second andthird partially decrypted challenges may be combined to generate thedecrypted challenge. At block 765, the decrypted challenge may betransmitted to the server computing system for verification. If theserver computing system confirms that the decrypted challenge is asexpected, a notification of a successful transaction may be received;otherwise, a notification of a failed transaction may be received.

FIG. 7C shows a flowchart of an example identity verification processthat may be performed by a server computing system, in accordance withsome embodiments. The process 770 may be performed by a server computingsystem configured to verify identity of a user using a client computingsystem. The process 770 may correspond to the process 730 of FIG. 7B.

The process 770 may start at block 772 where an encrypted challenge maybe transmitted to the client computing system. At block 774, a firstpartially decrypted challenge may be transmitted to the client computingsystem. At block 776, a decrypted challenge may be received from theclient computing system. The decrypted challenge may be generated by theclient computing system using the first partially decrypted challenge, asecond partially decrypted challenge and a third partially decryptedchallenge. The second partially decrypted challenge is generated byapplying a second private key fragment to the encrypted challenge. Thethird partially decrypted challenge is generated by applying a thirdprivate key fragment to the encrypted challenge. At block 778, thedecrypted challenge may be evaluated for identity verification requestby the client computing system. The evaluation may be based on acomparison of the decrypted challenge and a challenge used to generatethe encrypted challenge. Based on the comparison, a notification of asuccessful verification may be transmitted to the client computingsystem.

FIG. 8A shows a system diagram 800 illustrating architectural componentsof an on-demand service environment, in accordance with someembodiments. A client machine located in the cloud 804 (or Internet) maycommunicate with the on-demand service environment via one or more edgerouters 808 and 812. The edge routers may communicate with one or morecore switches 820 and 824 via firewall 816. The core switches maycommunicate with a load balancer 828, which may distribute server loadover different pods, such as the pods 840 and 844. The pods 840 and 844,which may each include one or more servers and/or other computingresources, may perform data processing and other operations used toprovide on-demand services. Communication with the pods may be conductedvia pod switches 832 and 836. Components of the on-demand serviceenvironment may communicate with a database storage system 856 via adatabase firewall 848 and a database switch 852.

As shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, accessing an on-demand service environmentmay involve communications transmitted among a variety of differenthardware and/or software components. Further, the on-demand serviceenvironment 800 is a simplified representation of an actual on-demandservice environment. For example, while only one or two devices of eachtype are shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, some embodiments of an on-demandservice environment may include anywhere from one to many devices ofeach type. Also, the on-demand service environment need not include eachdevice shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, or may include additional devices notshown in FIGS. 8A and 8B.

Moreover, one or more of the devices in the on-demand serviceenvironment 800 may be implemented on the same physical device or ondifferent hardware. Some devices may be implemented using hardware or acombination of hardware and software. Thus, terms such as “dataprocessing apparatus,” “machine,” “server” and “device” as used hereinare not limited to a single hardware device, but rather include anyhardware and software configured to provide the described functionality.

The cloud 804 is intended to refer to a data network or plurality ofdata networks, often including the Internet. Client machines located inthe cloud 804 may communicate with the on-demand service environment toaccess services provided by the on-demand service environment. Forexample, client machines may access the on-demand service environment toretrieve, store, edit, and/or process information.

In some embodiments, the edge routers 808 and 812 route packets betweenthe cloud 804 and other components of the on-demand service environment800. The edge routers 808 and 812 may employ the Border Gateway Protocol(BGP). The BGP is the core routing protocol of the Internet. The edgerouters 808 and 812 may maintain a table of IP networks or ‘prefixes’which designate network reachability among autonomous systems on theInternet.

In one or more embodiments, the firewall 816 may protect the innercomponents of the on-demand service environment 800 from Internettraffic. The firewall 816 may block, permit, or deny access to the innercomponents of the on-demand service environment 800 based upon a set ofrules and other criteria. The firewall 816 may act as one or more of apacket filter, an application gateway, a stateful filter, a proxyserver, or any other type of firewall.

In some embodiments, the core switches 820 and 824 are high-capacityswitches that transfer packets within the on-demand service environment800. The core switches 820 and 824 may be configured as network bridgesthat quickly route data between different components within theon-demand service environment. In some embodiments, the use of two ormore core switches 820 and 824 may provide redundancy and/or reducedlatency.

In some embodiments, the pods 840 and 844 may perform the core dataprocessing and service functions provided by the on-demand serviceenvironment. Each pod may include various types of hardware and/orsoftware computing resources. An example of the pod architecture isdiscussed in greater detail with reference to FIG. 8B.

In some embodiments, communication between the pods 840 and 844 may beconducted via the pod switches 832 and 836. The pod switches 832 and 836may facilitate communication between the pods 840 and 844 and clientmachines located in the cloud 804, for example via core switches 820 and824. Also, the pod switches 832 and 836 may facilitate communicationbetween the pods 840 and 844 and the database storage 856.

In some embodiments, the load balancer 828 may distribute workloadbetween the pods 840 and 844. Balancing the on-demand service requestsbetween the pods may assist in improving the use of resources,increasing throughput, reducing response times, and/or reducingoverhead. The load balancer 828 may include multilayer switches toanalyze and forward traffic.

In some embodiments, access to the database storage 856 may be guardedby a database firewall 848. The database firewall 848 may act as acomputer application firewall operating at the database applicationlayer of a protocol stack. The database firewall 848 may protect thedatabase storage 856 from application attacks such as structure querylanguage (SQL) injection, database rootkits, and unauthorizedinformation disclosure.

In some embodiments, the database firewall 848 may include a host usingone or more forms of reverse proxy services to proxy traffic beforepassing it to a gateway router. The database firewall 848 may inspectthe contents of database traffic and block certain content or databaserequests. The database firewall 848 may work on the SQL applicationlevel atop the TCP/IP stack, managing applications' connection to thedatabase or SQL management interfaces as well as intercepting andenforcing packets traveling to or from a database network or applicationinterface.

In some embodiments, communication with the database storage system 856may be conducted via the database switch 852. The multi-tenant databasesystem 856 may include more than one hardware and/or software componentsfor handling database queries. Accordingly, the database switch 852 maydirect database queries transmitted by other components of the on-demandservice environment (e.g., the pods 840 and 844) to the correctcomponents within the database storage system 856. In some embodiments,the database storage system 856 is an on-demand database system sharedby many different organizations. The on-demand database system mayemploy a multi-tenant approach, a virtualized approach, or any othertype of database approach. An on-demand database system is discussed ingreater detail with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.

FIG. 8B shows a system diagram illustrating the architecture of the pod844, in accordance with one embodiment. The pod 844 may be used torender services to a user of the on-demand service environment 800. Insome embodiments, each pod may include a variety of servers and/or othersystems. The pod 844 includes one or more content batch servers 864,content search servers 868, query servers 872, file force servers 876,access control system (ACS) servers 880, batch servers 884, and appservers 888. Also, the pod 844 includes database instances 890, quickfile systems (QFS) 892, and indexers 894. In one or more embodiments,some or all communication between the servers in the pod 844 may betransmitted via the switch 836.

In some embodiments, the application servers 888 may include a hardwareand/or software framework dedicated to the execution of procedures(e.g., programs, routines, scripts) for supporting the construction ofapplications provided by the on-demand service environment 800 via thepod 844. Some such procedures may include operations for providing theservices described herein. The content batch servers 864 may requestsinternal to the pod. These requests may be long-running and/or not tiedto a particular customer. For example, the content batch servers 864 mayhandle requests related to log mining, cleanup work, and maintenancetasks.

The content search servers 868 may provide query and indexer functions.For example, the functions provided by the content search servers 868may allow users to search through content stored in the on-demandservice environment. The Fileforce servers 876 may manage requestsinformation stored in the Fileforce storage 878. The Fileforce storage878 may store information such as documents, images, and basic largeobjects (BLOBs). By managing requests for information using theFileforce servers 876, the image footprint on the database may bereduced.

The query servers 872 may be used to retrieve information from one ormore file systems. For example, the query system 872 may receiverequests for information from the app servers 888 and then transmitinformation queries to the NFS 896 located outside the pod. The pod 844may share a database instance 890 configured as a multi-tenantenvironment in which different organizations share access to the samedatabase. Additionally, services rendered by the pod 844 may requirevarious hardware and/or software resources. In some embodiments, the ACSservers 880 may control access to data, hardware resources, or softwareresources.

In some embodiments, the batch servers 884 may process batch jobs, whichare used to run tasks at specified times. Thus, the batch servers 884may transmit instructions to other servers, such as the app servers 888,to trigger the batch jobs. For some embodiments, the QFS 892 may be anopen source file system available from Sun Microsystems® of Santa Clara,Calif. The QFS may serve as a rapid-access file system for storing andaccessing information available within the pod 844. The QFS 892 maysupport some volume management capabilities, allowing many disks to begrouped together into a file system. File system metadata can be kept ona separate set of disks, which may be useful for streaming applicationswhere long disk seeks cannot be tolerated. Thus, the QFS system maycommunicate with one or more content search servers 868 and/or indexers894 to identify, retrieve, move, and/or update data stored in thenetwork file systems 896 and/or other storage systems.

In some embodiments, one or more query servers 872 may communicate withthe NFS 896 to retrieve and/or update information stored outside of thepod 844. The NFS 896 may allow servers located in the pod 844 to accessinformation to access files over a network in a manner similar to howlocal storage is accessed. In some embodiments, queries from the queryservers 822 may be transmitted to the NFS 896 via the load balancer 820,which may distribute resource requests over various resources availablein the on-demand service environment. The NFS 896 may also communicatewith the QFS 892 to update the information stored on the NFS 896 and/orto provide information to the QFS 892 for use by servers located withinthe pod 844.

In some embodiments, the pod may include one or more database instances890. The database instance 890 may transmit information to the QFS 892.When information is transmitted to the QFS, it may be available for useby servers within the pod 844 without requiring an additional databasecall. In some embodiments, database information may be transmitted tothe indexer 894. Indexer 894 may provide an index of informationavailable in the database 890 and/or QFS 892. The index information maybe provided to file force servers 876 and/or the QFS 892.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of an environment 910 wherein an on-demanddatabase service might be used, in accordance with some embodiments.Environment 910 includes an on-demand database service 916. User system912 may be any machine or system that is used by a user to access adatabase user system. For example, any of user systems 912 can be ahandheld computing system, a mobile phone, a laptop computer, a workstation, and/or a network of computing systems. As illustrated in FIGS.9 and 10, user systems 912 might interact via a network 914 with theon-demand database service 916.

An on-demand database service, such as system 916, is a database systemthat is made available to outside users that do not need to necessarilybe concerned with building and/or maintaining the database system, butinstead may be available for their use when the users need the databasesystem (e.g., on the demand of the users). Some on-demand databaseservices may store information from one or more tenants stored intotables of a common database image to form a multi-tenant database system(MTS). Accordingly, “on-demand database service 916” and “system 916”will be used interchangeably herein. A database image may include one ormore database objects. A relational database management system (RDBMS)or the equivalent may execute storage and retrieval of informationagainst the database object(s). Application platform 918 may be aframework that allows the applications of system 916 to run, such as thehardware and/or software, e.g., the operating system. In animplementation, on-demand database service 916 may include anapplication platform 918 that enables creation, managing and executingone or more applications developed by the provider of the on-demanddatabase service, users accessing the on-demand database service viauser systems 912, or third party application developers accessing theon-demand database service via user systems 912.

One arrangement for elements of system 916 is shown in FIG. 9, includinga network interface 920, application platform 918, tenant data storage922 for tenant data 923, system data storage 924 for system data 925accessible to system 916 and possibly multiple tenants, program code 926for implementing various functions of system 916, and a process space928 for executing MTS system processes and tenant-specific processes,such as running applications as part of an application hosting service.Additional processes that may execute on system 916 include databaseindexing processes.

The users of user systems 912 may differ in their respective capacities,and the capacity of a particular user system 912 might be entirelydetermined by permissions (permission levels) for the current user. Forexample, where a call center agent is using a particular user system 912to interact with system 916, the user system 912 has the capacitiesallotted to that call center agent. However, while an administrator isusing that user system to interact with system 916, that user system hasthe capacities allotted to that administrator. In systems with ahierarchical role model, users at one permission level may have accessto applications, data, and database information accessible by a lowerpermission level user, but may not have access to certain applications,database information, and data accessible by a user at a higherpermission level. Thus, different users may have different capabilitieswith regard to accessing and modifying application and databaseinformation, depending on a user's security or permission level.

Network 914 is any network or combination of networks of devices thatcommunicate with one another. For example, network 914 can be any one orany combination of a LAN (local area network), WAN (wide area network),telephone network, wireless network, point-to-point network, starnetwork, token ring network, hub network, or other appropriateconfiguration. As the most common type of computer network in currentuse is a TCP/IP (Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol)network (e.g., the Internet), that network will be used in many of theexamples herein. However, it should be understood that the networks usedin some embodiments are not so limited, although TCP/IP is a frequentlyimplemented protocol.

User systems 912 might communicate with system 916 using TCP/IP and, ata higher network level, use other common Internet protocols tocommunicate, such as HTTP, FTP, AFS, WAP, etc. In an example where HTTPis used, user system 912 might include an HTTP client commonly referredto as a “browser” for sending and receiving HTTP messages to and from anHTTP server at system 916. Such an HTTP server might be implemented asthe sole network interface between system 916 and network 914, but othertechniques might be used as well or instead. In some embodiments, theinterface between system 916 and network 914 includes load sharingfunctionality, such as round-robin HTTP request distributors to balanceloads and distribute incoming HTTP requests evenly over a plurality ofservers. At least as for the users that are accessing that server, eachof the plurality of servers has access to the MTS' data; however, otheralternative configurations may be used instead.

In some embodiments, system 916, shown in FIG. 9, implements a web-basedcustomer relationship management (CRM) system. For example, in someembodiments, system 916 includes application servers configured toimplement and execute CRM software applications as well as providerelated data, code, forms, web pages and other information to and fromuser systems 912 and to store to, and retrieve from, a database systemrelated data, objects, and Webpage content. With a multi-tenant system,data for multiple tenants may be stored in the same physical databaseobject, however, tenant data typically is arranged so that data of onetenant is kept logically separate from that of other tenants so that onetenant does not have access to another tenant's data, unless such datais expressly shared. In certain embodiments, system 916 implementsapplications other than, or in addition to, a CRM application. Forexample, system 916 may provide tenant access to multiple hosted(standard and custom) applications. User (or third party developer)applications, which may or may not include CRM, may be supported by theapplication platform 918, which manages creation, storage of theapplications into one or more database objects and executing of theapplications in a virtual machine in the process space of the system916.

Each user system 912 could include a desktop personal computer,workstation, laptop, PDA, cell phone, or any wireless access protocol(WAP) enabled device or any other computing system capable ofinterfacing directly or indirectly to the Internet or other networkconnection. User system 912 typically runs an HTTP client, e.g., abrowsing program, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer® browser,Mozilla's Firefox® browser, Opera's browser, or a WAP-enabled browser inthe case of a cell phone, PDA or other wireless device, or the like,allowing a user (e.g., subscriber of the multi-tenant database system)of user system 912 to access, process and view information, pages andapplications available to it from system 916 over network 914.

Each user system 912 also typically includes one or more user interfacedevices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, trackball, touch pad, touchscreen, pen or the like, for interacting with a graphical user interface(GUI) provided by the browser on a display (e.g., a monitor screen, LCDdisplay, etc.) in conjunction with pages, forms, applications and otherinformation provided by system 916 or other systems or servers. Forexample, the user interface device can be used to access data andapplications hosted by system 916, and to perform searches on storeddata, and otherwise allow a user to interact with various GUI pages thatmay be presented to a user. As discussed above, embodiments are suitablefor use with the Internet, which refers to a specific globalinternetwork of networks. However, it should be understood that othernetworks can be used instead of the Internet, such as an intranet, anextranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a non-TCP/IP based network,any LAN or WAN or the like.

According to some embodiments, each user system 912 and all of itscomponents are operator configurable using applications, such as abrowser, including computer code run using a central processing unitsuch as an Intel Pentium® processor or the like. Similarly, system 916(and additional instances of an MTS, where more than one is present) andall of their components might be operator configurable usingapplication(s) including computer code to run using a central processingunit such as processor system 917, which may include an Intel Pentium®processor or the like, and/or multiple processor units.

A computer program product implementation includes a machine-readablestorage medium (media) having instructions stored thereon/in which canbe used to program a computer to perform any of the processes of theembodiments described herein. Computer code for operating andconfiguring system 916 to intercommunicate and to process web pages,applications and other data and media content as described herein arepreferably downloaded and stored on a hard disk, but the entire programcode, or portions thereof, may also be stored in any other volatile ornon-volatile memory medium or device, such as a ROM or RAM, or providedon any media capable of storing program code, such as any type ofrotating media including floppy disks, optical discs, digital versatiledisk (DVD), compact disk (CD), microdrive, and magneto-optical disks,and magnetic or optical cards, nanosystems (including molecular memoryICs), or any type of media or device suitable for storing instructionsand/or data. Additionally, the entire program code, or portions thereof,may be transmitted and downloaded from a software source over atransmission medium, e.g., over the Internet, or from another server, ortransmitted over any other conventional network connection (e.g.,extranet, VPN, LAN, etc.) using any communication medium and protocols(e.g., TCP/IP, HTTP, HTTPS, Ethernet, etc.). It will also be appreciatedthat computer code for implementing embodiments can be implemented inany programming language that can be executed on a client system and/orserver or server system such as, for example, C, C++, HTML, any othermarkup language, Java™, JavaScript®, ActiveX®, any other scriptinglanguage, such as VBScript, and many other programming languages as arewell known may be used. (Java™ is a trademark of Sun Microsystems®,Inc.).

According to some embodiments, each system 916 is configured to provideweb pages, forms, applications, data and media content to user (client)systems 912 to support the access by user systems 912 as tenants ofsystem 916. As such, system 916 provides security mechanisms to keepeach tenant's data separate unless the data is shared. If more than oneMTS is used, they may be located in close proximity to one another(e.g., in a server farm located in a single building or campus), or theymay be distributed at locations remote from one another (e.g., one ormore servers located in city A and one or more servers located in cityB). As used herein, each MTS could include logically and/or physicallyconnected servers distributed locally or across one or more geographiclocations. Additionally, the term “server” is meant to include acomputing system, including processing hardware and process space(s),and an associated storage system and database application (e.g., OODBMSor RDBMS) as is well known in the art.

It should also be understood that “server system” and “server” are oftenused interchangeably herein. Similarly, the database object describedherein can be implemented as single databases, a distributed database, acollection of distributed databases, a database with redundant online oroffline backups or other redundancies, etc., and might include adistributed database or storage network and associated processingintelligence.

FIG. 10 also shows a block diagram of environment 910 furtherillustrating system 916 and various interconnections, in accordance withsome embodiments. FIG. 10 shows that user system 912 may includeprocessor system 912A, memory system 912B, input system 912C, and outputsystem 912D. FIG. 10 shows network 914 and system 916. FIG. 10 alsoshows that system 916 may include tenant data storage 922, tenant data923, system data storage 924, system data 925, User Interface (UI) 1030,Application Program Interface (API) 1032, PL/SOQL 1034, save routines1036, application setup mechanism 1038, applications servers10001-1000N, system process space 1002, tenant process spaces 1004,tenant management process space 1010, tenant storage area 1012, userstorage 1014, and application metadata 1016. In other embodiments,environment 910 may not have the same elements as those listed aboveand/or may have other elements instead of, or in addition to, thoselisted above.

User system 912, network 914, system 916, tenant data storage 922, andsystem data storage 924 were discussed above in FIG. 9. Regarding usersystem 912, processor system 912A may be any combination of processors.Memory system 912B may be any combination of one or more memory devices,short term, and/or long term memory. Input system 912C may be anycombination of input devices, such as keyboards, mice, trackballs,scanners, cameras, and/or interfaces to networks. Output system 912D maybe any combination of output devices, such as monitors, printers, and/orinterfaces to networks. As shown by FIG. 10, system 916 may include anetwork interface 920 (of FIG. 9) implemented as a set of HTTPapplication servers 1000, an application platform 918, tenant datastorage 922, and system data storage 924. Also shown is system processspace 1002, including individual tenant process spaces 1004 and a tenantmanagement process space 1010. Each application server 1000 may beconfigured to tenant data storage 922 and the tenant data 923 therein,and system data storage 924 and the system data 925 therein to serverequests of user systems 912. The tenant data 923 might be divided intoindividual tenant storage areas 1012, which can be either a physicalarrangement and/or a logical arrangement of data. Within each tenantstorage area 1012, user storage 1014 and application metadata 1016 mightbe similarly allocated for each user. For example, a copy of a user'smost recently used (MRU) items might be stored to user storage 1014.Similarly, a copy of MRU items for an entire organization that is atenant might be stored to tenant storage area 1012. A UI 1030 provides auser interface and an API 1032 provides an application programmerinterface to system 916 resident processes to users and/or developers atuser systems 912. The tenant data and the system data may be stored invarious databases, such as Oracle™ databases.

Application platform 918 includes an application setup mechanism 1038that supports application developers' creation and management ofapplications, which may be saved as metadata into tenant data storage922 by save routines 1036 for execution by subscribers as tenant processspaces 1004 managed by tenant management process 1010 for example.Invocations to such applications may be coded using PL/SOQL 34 thatprovides a programming language style interface extension to API 1032. Adetailed description of some PL/SOQL language embodiments is discussedin commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,730,478, titled METHOD AND SYSTEMFOR ALLOWING ACCESS TO DEVELOPED APPLICATIONS VIA A MULTI-TENANTON-DEMAND DATABASE SERVICE, by Craig Weissman, filed Sep. 21, 4007,which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety and for allpurposes. Invocations to applications may be detected by systemprocesses, which manage retrieving application metadata 1016 for thesubscriber making the invocation and executing the metadata as anapplication in a virtual machine.

Each application server 1000 may be communicably coupled to databasesystems, e.g., having access to system data 925 and tenant data 923, viaa different network connection. For example, one application server10001 might be coupled via the network 914 (e.g., the Internet), anotherapplication server 1000N-1 might be coupled via a direct network link,and another application server 1000N might be coupled by yet a differentnetwork connection. Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol(TCP/IP) are typical protocols for communicating between applicationservers 1000 and the database system. However, other transport protocolsmay be used to optimize the system depending on the network interconnectused.

In certain embodiments, each application server 1000 is configured tohandle requests for any user associated with any organization that is atenant. Because it is desirable to be able to add and remove applicationservers from the server pool at any time for any reason, there ispreferably no server affinity for a user and/or organization to aspecific application server 1000. In some embodiments, therefore, aninterface system implementing a load balancing function (e.g., an F5Big-IP load balancer) is communicably coupled between the applicationservers 1000 and the user systems 912 to distribute requests to theapplication servers 1000. In some embodiments, the load balancer uses aleast connections algorithm to route user requests to the applicationservers 1000. Other examples of load balancing algorithms, such as roundrobin and observed response time, also can be used. For example, incertain embodiments, three consecutive requests from the same user couldhit three different application servers 1000, and three requests fromdifferent users could hit the same application server 1000. In thismanner, system 916 is multi-tenant, wherein system 916 handles storageof, and access to, different objects, data and applications acrossdisparate users and organizations.

As an example of storage, one tenant might be a company that employs asales force where each call center agent uses system 916 to manage theirsales process. Thus, a user might maintain contact data, leads data,customer follow-up data, performance data, goals and progress data,etc., all applicable to that user's personal sales process (e.g., intenant data storage 922). In an example of a MTS arrangement, since allof the data and the applications to access, view, modify, report,transmit, calculate, etc., can be maintained and accessed by a usersystem having nothing more than network access, the user can manage hisor her sales efforts and cycles from any of many different user systems.For example, if a call center agent is visiting a customer and thecustomer has Internet access in their lobby, the call center agent canobtain critical updates as to that customer while waiting for thecustomer to arrive in the lobby.

While each user's data might be separate from other users' dataregardless of the employers of each user, some data might beorganization-wide data shared or accessible by a plurality of users orall of the users for a given organization that is a tenant. Thus, theremight be some data structures managed by system 916 that are allocatedat the tenant level while other data structures might be managed at theuser level. Because an MTS might support multiple tenants includingpossible competitors, the MTS should have security protocols that keepdata, applications, and application use separate. Also, because manytenants may opt for access to an MTS rather than maintain their ownsystem, redundancy, up-time, and backup are additional functions thatmay be implemented in the MTS. In addition to user-specific data andtenant specific data, system 916 might also maintain system level datausable by multiple tenants or other data. Such system level data mightinclude industry reports, news, postings, and the like that are sharableamong tenants.

In certain embodiments, user systems 912 (which may be clientmachines/systems) communicate with application servers 1000 to requestand update system-level and tenant-level data from system 916 that mayrequire sending one or more queries to tenant data storage 922 and/orsystem data storage 924. System 916 (e.g., an application server 1000 insystem 916) automatically generates one or more SQL statements (e.g.,SQL queries) that are designed to access the desired information. Systemdata storage 924 may generate query plans to access the requested datafrom the database.

Each database can generally be viewed as a collection of objects, suchas a set of logical tables, containing data fitted into predefinedcategories. A “table” is one representation of a data object, and may beused herein to simplify the conceptual description of objects and customobjects according to some embodiments. It should be understood that“table” and “object” may be used interchangeably herein. Each tablegenerally contains one or more data categories logically arranged ascolumns or fields in a viewable schema. Each row or record of a tablecontains an instance of data for each category defined by the fields.For example, a CRM database may include a table that describes acustomer with fields for basic contact information such as name,address, phone number, fax number, etc. Another table might describe apurchase order, including fields for information such as customer,product, sale price, date, etc. In some multi-tenant database systems,standard entity tables might be provided for use by all tenants. For CRMdatabase applications, such standard entities might include tables foraccount, contact, lead, and opportunity data, each containingpre-defined fields. It should be understood that the word “entity” mayalso be used interchangeably herein with “object” and “table”.

In some multi-tenant database systems, tenants may be allowed to createand store custom objects, or they may be allowed to customize standardentities or objects, for example by creating custom fields for standardobjects, including custom index fields. U.S. Pat. No. 7,779,039, titledCUSTOM ENTITIES AND FIELDS IN A MULTI-TENANT DATABASE SYSTEM, byWeissman, et al., and which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety and for all purposes, teaches systems and methods for creatingcustom objects as well as customizing standard objects in a multi-tenantdatabase system. In some embodiments, for example, all custom entitydata rows are stored in a single multi-tenant physical table, which maycontain multiple logical tables per organization. In some embodiments,multiple “tables” for a single customer may actually be stored in onelarge table and/or in the same table as the data of other customers.

These and other aspects of the disclosure may be implemented by varioustypes of hardware, software, firmware, etc. For example, some featuresof the disclosure may be implemented, at least in part, bymachine-program product that include program instructions, stateinformation, etc., for performing various operations described herein.Examples of program instructions include both machine code, such asproduced by a compiler, and files containing higher-level code that maybe executed by the computer using an interpreter. Examples ofmachine-program product include, but are not limited to, magnetic mediasuch as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media suchas CD-ROM disks; magneto-optical media; and hardware devices that arespecially configured to store and perform program instructions, such asread-only memory devices (“ROM”) and random access memory (“RAM”).

While one or more embodiments and techniques are described withreference to an implementation in which a service cloud console isimplemented in a system having an application server providing a frontend for an on-demand database service capable of supporting multipletenants, the one or more embodiments and techniques are not limited tomulti-tenant databases nor deployment on application servers.Embodiments may be practiced using other database architectures, i.e.,ORACLE®, DB2® by IBM and the like without departing from the scope ofthe embodiments claimed.

Any of the above embodiments may be used alone or together with oneanother in any combination. Although various embodiments may have beenmotivated by various deficiencies with the prior art, which may bediscussed or alluded to in one or more places in the specification, theembodiments do not necessarily address any of these deficiencies. Inother words, different embodiments may address different deficienciesthat may be discussed in the specification. Some embodiments may onlypartially address some deficiencies or just one deficiency that may bediscussed in the specification, and some embodiments may not address anyof these deficiencies.

While various embodiments have been described herein, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example only, and notlimitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present applicationshould not be limited by any of the embodiments described herein, butshould be defined only in accordance with the following andlater-submitted claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-generated method for identityverification, the method comprising: transmitting, by a server computingsystem to a client computing system, an encrypted challenge generatedusing a public key of an asymmetric key pair; transmitting, by theserver computing system to the client computing system, a firstpartially decrypted challenge generated by applying a first private keyfragment of a private key of the asymmetric key pair to the encryptedchallenge; receiving, by the server computing system from the clientcomputing system, a decrypted challenge, the decrypted challengegenerated by: (i) applying a second private key fragment of the privatekey to the encrypted challenge to generate a second partially decryptedchallenge, the second private key fragment stored in the clientcomputing system, (ii) applying a third private key fragment of theprivate key to the encrypted challenge to generate a third partiallydecrypted challenge, the third private key fragment provided by a userof the client computing system, and (iii) combining the first partiallydecrypted challenge, the second partially decrypted challenge and thethird partially decrypted challenge to generate the decrypted challenge;and comparing, by the server computing system, the decrypted challengewith a challenge used to encrypt the encrypted challenge to verifyidentity.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by theserver computing system from the client computing system, the public keyand the first private key fragment.
 3. The method of claim 2, whereinthe challenge is generated by the server computing system using a randomnumber generator.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprisingtransmitting, by the server computing system to the client computingsystem, a notification of a successful identity verification based onconfirming that the decrypted challenge is the same as the challenge. 5.The method of claim 4, wherein the private key is fragmented into thefirst private key fragment, the second private key fragment, and thethird private key fragment by the client computing system.
 6. The methodof claim 5, further comprising receiving, by the server computing systemfrom the client computing system, a request for identity verification.7. A system comprising: one or more processors; and a non-transitorycomputer readable medium storing a plurality of instructions, which whenexecuted, cause the one or more processors to: transmit an encryptedchallenge generated using a public key of an asymmetric key pair;transmit a first partially decrypted challenge generated by applying afirst private key fragment of a private key of the asymmetric key pairto the encrypted challenge; and receiving a decrypted challenge, thedecrypted challenge generated by: (i) applying a second private keyfragment of the private key to the encrypted challenge to generate asecond partially decrypted challenge, the second private key fragmentstored in a client computing system, (ii) applying a third private keyfragment of the private key to the encrypted challenge to generate athird partially decrypted challenge, the third private key fragmentprovided by a user of the client computing system, and (iii) combiningthe first partially decrypted challenge, the second partially decryptedchallenge and the third partially decrypted challenge to generate thedecrypted challenge; and compare the decrypted challenge with achallenge used to encrypt the encrypted challenge to verify identity. 8.The system of claim 7, further comprising instructions which whenexecuted, cause the one or more processors to receive the public key andthe first private key fragment.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein thechallenge is generated using a random number generator.
 10. Theapparatus of claim 9, further comprising instructions which whenexecuted, cause the one or more processors to transmit a notification ofsuccessful verification based on confirming that the decrypted challengeis the same as the challenge.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein theprivate key is fragmented into the first private key fragment, thesecond private key fragment, and the third private key fragment by theclient computing system.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, furthercomprising instructions which when executed, cause the one or moreprocessors to receive a verification request from the client computingsystem.
 13. A computer program product comprising computer-readableprogram code to be executed by one or more processors when retrievedfrom a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the program codeincluding instructions to: transmit an encrypted challenge generatedusing a public key of an asymmetric key pair; transmit a first partiallydecrypted challenge generated by applying a first private key fragmentof a private key of the asymmetric key pair to the encrypted challenge;and receive a decrypted challenge, the decrypted challenge generated by:(i) applying a second private key fragment of the private key to theencrypted challenge to generate a second partially decrypted challenge,the second private key fragment stored in a client computing system;(ii) applying a third private key fragment of the private key to theencrypted challenge to generate a third partially decrypted challenge,the third private key fragment provided by a user of the clientcomputing system; and (iii) combining the first partially decryptedchallenge, the second partially decrypted challenge and the thirdpartially decrypted challenge to generate the decrypted challenge; andcompare the decrypted challenge with a challenge used to encrypt theencrypted challenge to verify identity.
 14. The computer program productof claim 13, wherein the program code includes further instructions toreceive the public key and the first private key fragment.
 15. Thecomputer program product of claim 14, wherein the challenge is generatedusing a random number generator.
 16. The computer program product ofclaim 15, wherein the program code includes further instructions totransmit a notification of successful verification based on confirmingthat the decrypted challenge is the same as the challenge.
 17. Thecomputer program product of claim 16, wherein the private key isfragmented into the first private key fragment, the second private keyfragment, and the third private key fragment by the client computingsystem.
 18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein theprogram code includes further instructions to receive a verificationrequest from the client computing system.